


Sprinkled by Fairy Dust

by Sempiternal (IamFTHF)



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Eventual Romance, Fae & Fairies, M/M, Magic, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Mystery, Romance, fuck it tho its, i hope i can pull that last tag off, maybe???
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-26 10:35:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13856013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IamFTHF/pseuds/Sempiternal
Summary: There will always be mysteries surrounding small towns located on the countryside.Usually, its stories of ghosts and spirits that haunt houses until the owner is driven away half-mad.Sometimes it’s of mermaids and sirens that call out to fishermen whenever they sail out to sea; enchanting them with their beautiful voices and faces…luring them to their deaths.In towns like this one; with its abundant forest and greens, the fae folk are all the rave I guess.There’s just something about beautiful creatures that entice you with amazing dancing parties and high quality booze that makes it all worth listening to.But in this town; in our town, stories like that aren’t called mysteries.They are our reality.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own take at folklore okay, I've mixed my favorite aspects of different folklores and mythologies so the information in this is not 100% accurate.
> 
> And damn, who doesn't need OngNiel with a side of magic and fantasy right?
> 
> I'm a college student struggling in her thesis, so please have patience. I will try to update as much as I can.  
> I plan to make this into a five-chaptered fic, well more or less.
> 
> Wish me luck, and my inspiration abundant!
> 
> WARNING: Not beta-ed! If someone wants to, please yes edit my trash of a work please-

“—niel? Daniel!”

Daniel’s whole body jolted up at the sound of a _very loud voice_ calling out (screaming, more like) his name; right beside his very vulnerable ear, mind you. Groaning in frustration, he turns his body to the left, away from the irritating voice interrupting his very wonderful nap. He lays on his stomach and raised both of his hands to cover his ears, but persistent hands pulls them away and Daniel yelps (in a quite undignified fashion) when his right ear gets twisted.

“AH! Quit it! Jaehwan!” He says, slapping the offending hand away and sitting up straight to glare at his friend. Kim Jaehwan, childhood friend, only grins at his expression before cackling right in front of his face.

_'This asshole.'_

“You deserved it,” the other teased, Daniel rolls his eyes and stands up; dusting the leaves off of his jeans. “No, you’re just an asshole,” Daniel mutters loud enough for the other to hear, but Jaehwan only shrugs his shoulders and ignores his comment.

“What are you even doing out here, anyway?”

“The usual. Walked to the emperor today and told him how my day went,” Jaehwan answers. Daniel stares at him for a while, taking note of the slight tilt of his lips and the soft expression of his face. Shaking his head, Daniel wonders what got his friend so hooked with the emperor.

In the middle of the forest, right beside the giant stump in the meadows, lies a coffin.

A _glass_ coffin _._

Yeah, he knows how it sounds like (Snow White, yeah right), but it’s the truth. It lies on the ground, right beside the huge tree stump; vines and grass had grown around it, crawling over the once pristine glass and surrounding almost the whole surface of the glass coffin.

Almost.

Because for some peculiar reason, the topmost part remains untouched; both by the plants and the vines. The face of the boy lying inside it remains visible for all those who are curious to _see._

The boy has pointed ears, and a crown of leaves circling his ink black hair. He was beautiful. _Is_ beautiful, as Jaehwan would insist. But Daniel also knows _what_ he is. The people of their town all know what the boy is. _A fae._

Not just any fae, but the fae prince if you believe the whispers and murmurs of the old townspeople.

In their town, the fae are not just something they read about in fairytales or watch in cartoons. They’re real. This whole town, and all the people living in it, all belongs to the faefolk. The people owe their jobs to the fae. Their booming industry of perishable goods, the reason why their produce are always sweet and fresh? The fae. The earth and the forest provides them for all their needs. _The faefolk always provides._

The only catch? No one leaves.

If you’re born here, you die here. That’s the town’s unspoken saying.  Daniel hates it. He hates how he can’t enjoy going to the city without his mom worrying at home, wondering if his leave offended the faefolk, worrying if they’ll exact revenge on him while he’s on his way back home.

He _hates_ how this town gives and gives, but it also takes. It takes the littlest things, so little that you won’t even notice it at first, but when you do it’s already too late. You’re already shackled to the roots of this town, unable to leave.

Huffing, he kicks a stone away and turns his attention back to Jaehwan, who’s already retelling what he said in front of the emperor earlier.

“Don’t you get tired of it?” He asks in a whisper.

“Of what?”

“Of the emperor? Of this town? Of this kind of life?” Daniel says, his tone bitter and slightly sad. Jaehwan only stares at him, he’s already heard of Daniel’s rant countless of times, ever since the other boy understood what the fae are stealing away from them.

“You know we have no choice…” Jaehwan only answers and Daniel glares at him, because he knows Jaehwan doesn’t mind this kind of life. This life had brought him the emperor, what more can Jaehwan want?

“Whatever,” the taller only answers, turning back to the forest-path and brushing off their conversation. It was silent for a few seconds, before Jaehwan seems to remember what he had approached Daniel for.

“Ah right! I braved the edge of the exit to find you because there’s town news!”

The exit is what they call the edge of the forest, near the boundary of the town and near the road that would take you to the cities. The townspeople treat the exit as something dangerous because they don’t like to risk angering the faefolk. _They might think we wanted to leave._

But Daniel scoffs at the idea. He’ll live on the edge, literally, if it would get him nearer the cities, closer to his freedom.

“So? What’s the town news?”

“You know that uh, weird boy? Ong Seongwoo?” Daniel quirks an eyebrow and searches his brain for a face to match the peculiar name.

“No?” And judging by his face, Jaehwan had already expected that answer.

“Thought so. You won’t remember him ‘cos he’s a changeling!”

“What? But he’s older than us? I thought changelings are only supposed to be exchanged for babies?”

“That’s the thing. Ong Seongwoo, the one we thought we knew of for eighteen years, he was a changeling all along. The real one came back this morning and the whole town’s alight like forest fire! A kid’s never been exchanged for that long, and if they were, they never come back to town. But _he did._ ”

Now _that_ caught Daniel’s attention. He pauses for a while; the two of them continue to walk down the path in silence.

“...Wanna come see?” Jaehwan murmurs, lips curving to a mischievous smile. Daniel grins back, eyes lighting with excitement.

“Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

The town’s plaza is already full of people when Jaehwan and Daniel arrives. At the center of it all is Mrs. Ong, crying and cradling the face of a boy sitting in the middle of a pile of dried leaves. Mrs. Ong is brushing the boy’s matted hair back, inspecting his face and taking note of every single detail she probably missed for nineteen years.

Nineteen years. Daniel can’t believe the boy lived with the faefolk for nineteen long years. He can’t even believe he survived, let alone convinced the folk to let him come back home. It was unheard of.

Babies in town get exchanged with changelings every now and then; it’s not _that_ normal but it was frequent enough that the parents already know what to do to get their children back.

Changelings are well…nasty creatures. They find it funny when disaster happens while they’re in the room. Daniel remembers vaguely that one event when they were children, when Ong Seongwoo (the changeling, apparently) had laughed so hard he fell on his butt as he watches Jaehwan slip and fall into the pond while they were playing. That was the first time anyone has ever witnessed _that_  Seongwoo laugh. It was a nasty sound too, more of a cackle than the innocent lilting of a child’s voice.

Now at least Daniel knows why _that_ Seongwoo was weird as fuck.

He looks at the back of _real_ Seongwoo’s head, and wondered what kind of life did he lead for nineteen years, all cooped up in the fae court. What kind of person he is...does he still identify as human?

He smiles when he spies his mom in the crowd, pulling Jaehwan by the back of his shirt until they’re next to his mom. He greets her with a kiss on the cheek, and only smils  when she asks where he’s been. He can’t tell her he’s been on the exit again, with _real_ Seongwoo’s return everyone’s probably worried that the fae are active again.

“So, what’s the verdict? Is he the real deal?”

His mom swats him on the arm, shushing him. “Don’t be rude. He’s not been with his own kind for _years_. The poor boy’s probably confused.”

“Why’d he come back though? _How_ did he come back?”

His mom shakes her head, “No one knows, he just appeared here. The changeling went missing for days and when the town’s head saw this boy appear all of a sudden, he knows he’s Ong Seongwoo.”

“It all makes sense now. The Seongwoo from school was hella weird. He keeps on tripping people and laughing. It was creepy.” Jaehwan muses, faking a shiver.

“Why was he taken anyway?” Daniel asks, staring at the returned boy still inside his mother’s embrace.

As if he’d heard him, Ong Seongwoo turns his head and meet his eyes.

Just from that brief moment Daniel _just knew._

Why this boy was taken, why the fae took interest in him.

_“He’s beautiful.”_


	2. One.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Beauty in human children and young women attract the fairies as the fairies perhaps find preciousness in these perceived traits.”— Briggs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what, I changed my mind. I don't know when this will end.  
> I'll just wing it.

Daniel met Ong Seongwoo on a Wednesday afternoon.

The sun was high on the sky and the wind breathes ever so softly, making the grass and leaves on the edge of the forest sway at every gust. On Daniel’s favorite spot; by the town exit, is Ong Seongwoo. He isn’t even doing anything. He’s just…there, sitting on the forest floor and burying his hands on shrubs of the underbrush. His dark hair falling over his eyes, Seongwoo was muttering under his breath, occasionally clicking his tongue as he looks at the devastating state of the…branch?

But to be honest, the way the stray sunlight is hitting Seongwoo’s raven hair is like something Daniel could only read in books; it’s a very pleasing picture. Almost like a painting.

He wasn’t being poetic, okay. He’s literally just describing what he’s seeing. Seongwoo looked a little too peaceful (and irritated) for Daniel to disrupt. He stands on the sides awkwardly for a few seconds, weighing in the options. Well, Seongwoo _is_ sitting on Daniel’s spot and from what he can remember; Daniel had called dibs on that spot since he was like, ten so he has every right to claim what's his.

Hesitantly, he walks a few steps closer before deciding, _‘fuck it’_ and dropping his body down on the sunny spot, ignoring Seongwoo’s curious stare.  He lies on his back and crosses his arms behind his head, he closes his eyes and slowly lets the sound of nature lull him to sleep.

Daniel is about to drift off when he hears the grass beside him rustle with movement. Opening one eye, Daniel almost shoots himself upright when he sees Ong Seongwoo sitting beside him and gazing—no, staring down at him.

“W-what is it?” He almost curses himself for stuttering, but can you blame him? He opens his eyes and suddenly someone’s all up in his space, _he’s shocked_.

Seongwoo seemed to hesitate for a while before answering in a soft voice, “You have yellow hair.”

Daniel uncurls one arm and tugs on his bleached strands. “Well yeah, I dyed it.”

“I see,” the older says, watching Daniel rearrange his own hair for a while before reaching out a hand and brushing away a stray strand. Daniel blinks in surprise and remains motionless beside him, not knowing what to do.

_We just met and suddenly there's skinship already?_

“It’s coarse,” Seongwoo mutters, frowning.  Daniel huffs and pulls the other’s hand away. “I don’t take care of it, I guess.”

“You should take care of it.”

“I will.”

_Silence._

“…what were you doing there?” Daniel ended up asking; nodding at the direction of the underbrush, just so he can break the awkward silence that suddenly took over. He feels like he should be responsible and keep the conversation going, because clearly Seongwoo wouldn’t.

“I was pulling out the tree,” Seongwoo simply answers, gesturing at the small branch (a tree, apparently) inside the plastic bag beside Seongwoo.

“What for?”

“It needs more sunlight to grow. I am transferring it elsewhere,” the other says, giving Daniel a look as if he can’t believe it’s not obvious already.

“Ah,” Daniel nods, his free hand scratching his neck in embarrassment. They become quiet again, Daniel wondering what he should say while Seongwoo watches the myriad of emotions flash on his face in amusement.

“You can ask me anything,” Seongwoo ends up saying, wanting to put an end on Daniel’s trouble. Raising a curious eyebrow, the blond huffs a short laugh, “What makes you think I have some?”

Looking away, Seongwoo smiles and rests his chin on his folded knees, “Everyone in this town wants to ask me something.”

Well, Daniel will not refute that. He, himself, has countless of questions he wantsto ask the other boy. Nothing but plain courtesy is holding him back from doing so. But if the older male is willing, then why shouldn’t he right?

“How did you come back?”

Everyone has probably asked him that by now, and judging from Seongwoo’s tired sigh Daniel was right. Still, Daniel wants to hear all about it.

“I just did. All of a sudden.”

“No reason? Without warning?”

“Without warning. Maybe they release and take humans in a similar fashion: _abruptly_.”

This time, it’s Daniel who is silent. What did Seongwoo feel when it happened, he wondered.

The fae was the family he had grown up to, and all of a sudden that family kicks him out of their realm and release him to a new one. Without any reason why.

“Did you know you’re human?” It's a stupid question, Daniel knows. And Seongwoo does too, because he snorted as soon as he hears it. It was an undignified sound, the first human-like reaction Daniel has seen from him since his return and he can say he’s a bit proud he’s the one who caused it.

“It’s hard not to when everyone around me are either too beautiful they seem to glitter, or they literally glitter. Humans and fae are drastically different. They’re too beautiful while I have flaws,” Seongwoo answers.

“You don’t look flawed to me,” he had already said it before Daniel can even realize he was thinking it. Blushing, he coughs and looks away, hands flapping wildly in front of him. “I mean! You don’t look half bad! I think you fit in well with them,” he explained as he internally berates himself for missing a brain to mouth filter.

_Mouth, meet gun._

The other boy just smiles down at him and watches him fumble about patiently. “You’re too kind.”

“My friends would say otherwise but thanks,” Daniel coughs out, still not over the embarrassment. “So, you knew you had like, a changeling substitute at home?” At the other’s nod, Daniel continues. “Didn’t you want to come back sooner?”

Daniel realizes he asked the wrong question when Seongwoo stills, the small smile on his face freezes and the easy conversation they managed to keep going is suddenly replaced by heavy silence.

“I wanted to…but it was impossible, for me at least,” Seongwoo answers after a few tense seconds, his thin shoulders sagging sadly but his face remains stoic; blank as a glass. “They already sent the elder out to replace me and—”

“Wait—”

“—it would be difficult for me. Yes?”

“Elder? The changeling?” Daniel says, sitting up straight now and facing Seongwoo completely. Seongwoo blinks curiously at him but nods, “He’s their elder, on his last years of life. It was the reason why they sent him out. So he can live a comfortable life.”

Daniel laughs incredulously, “I don’t think human life and comfortable go side-by-side, Seongwoo. In the ‘realm’, was it? He can live a lavish life, I bet. Away from the bullshit of the human world.”

Seongwoo wrinkles his nose at the curse but he seems to agree too, “But there’s always something humans have that the fae could not ever have.”

“And what is that, then?”

Seongwoo pauses, looks around the forest and the insects flying around before letting his gaze fall on him. Daniel breathes in, surprised by the warmth inside Seongwoo’s too bright eyes. Just like what happened on the plaza. As soon as their eyes met, it seems as if the world stills in place.

Daniel is no romantic, but even he can feel the electricity that had buzzed from the soles of his feet up to his spine.

Then, Seongwoo opens his mouth and answers, voice warm and feather soft.

_“Affection.”_


End file.
